Saturday, July 31, 2010
Chapter 13 Graphs
In chapter 13 we read about mislead claims with numbers. Now an important part of that reading was based on viewing graphs and how they can be misleading. It is important to note that many graphs hide concealed claims, are misleading, or wrong. It is vital to use graphs with a baseline of zero in order to get an accurate view of what information you are reading, less you be mislead with a graph distorting the information with a different baseline. It is also good to compare your personal experiences with the information shown on the graph in order to get a more accurate viewpoint. It is important to note that graphs can create misleading comparison by how the measuring points on the axes are spaced. Finally the mean, median, and mode are vital for reasoning with numbers as they give you a scientific reference in which to view the information presented.
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You perfectly summarized the section on graphs from chapter 13. You put all the important information of what makes a graph misleading and what does not make a graph misleading. I found that it was important to know that graphs can also mislead us besides numbers and percentages. Graphs are used frequently in textbooks for classes and this made me think how many that I studied were actually misleading. It also made me think about graphs that are shown in magazines and newspapers or even on the news. It's interesting to know that even if a graph that is on the news or textbook doesn't make it accurate or even true.
ReplyDeleteI thought this was a perfect summary of chapter 13 as well. Numbers can be often too misleading and by basing our personal experiences we can determine whether the statement is true. For instance, if a person wrote that a review on a state fair and claimed that millions of people from all over the world attended the event. We might believe the statement is true if we had never gone to the fair. However, a person who might have been to that state fair might have a different observation. Maybe that person might have only seen a few people when they went. Numbers can be often misleading because we tend to believe them quickly. We see a number and think that number has to be accurate because it is hard to argue. But using our personal experiences can be a key solution.
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